Sunday, November 4, 2012

Thought we'd give these oven tacos a try, something new. Actually the thought of having it half way assembled sounded pretty good, it's hard to fill a taco shell sometimes, especially little hands. This way the meat mixture and cheese is baked into the shell so spillage is eliminated. A bonus to these delicious tacos is the shell doesn't crack all over the place when eating either. I read in comments that some turned out soggy, but mine did not, I guess I let the meat mixture cook down a little more? The shells will be softer but not in a bad way. We loved them, the meat mixture was very good.

In a large skillet brown ground beef and onion over medium-high heat. Drain off any excess liquid. Return to pan, add chilies, refried beans, tomato sauce, and taco seasoning. Mix well and cook for a few minutes if mixture seems runny.

Spoon the taco meat mixture into the taco shells and place into a 9 x 13 inch baking dish (OR check out The Taco Rack), standing up. Sprinkle cheese over the top of the taco meat in each shell. Place into the oven and bake at 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until the cheese has melted and the tacos are heated through.
Remove from the oven and top with any optional condiments for serving.

I made these last night and they were great. The whole family gave them a thumbs up. The best part was they are so much less messy than regular tacos. Usually my kids spill taco meat on the stovetop filling their shells, then they get cheese all over the counter filling their shells. All that was eliminated and there was less waste on their plates. They are also more filling so my boys were stuffed. Thanks for the great idea.

Do you think using a regular/store bought Taco Seasoning would be as good? I have a large container of Taco Seasoning from Sams I would love to use. Just wondering if anyone tried this without using the Homemade Taco Seasoning. It's not like it would be hard to do, just curious.Thanks!

This sounds delicious. I usually make double decker tacos (a regular taco with a tortilla and queso wrapped around it) but the crunchy part of the taco gets really messy. I'll try making it this way next time.

By the way, I love that homemade taco seasoning mix. I've been making it for almost a year now and no one in my family can even stand to think about how store bought taco seasoning tastes anymore :)

Found this post on pinterest and made this recipe tonight!!! So good! I invited my parents over for dinner and they (and the husband) had nothing but raving reviews. Made 14 tacos (had left over meat) beacuase i thought that would be plenty but we ate them all! They didn't come out soggy either. I will always and forever use this as my taco recipe now. Thank you! :)

I have been fixing these forever for my family. I use storebought seasoning in the ground beef and no sauce. Layer the shells with refried beans out of the can, then a layer of meat, then cheese. I used to bake them but now put them in the microwave until the cheese melts. Crispy and warm. Add lettuce, sour cream and sauce and enjoy.

you are going to love this! i accidentally made fat free refried beans. i was cooking a pot of beans with onions and garlic, salt and pepper. as the beans kept cooking down, i would add more water and suddenly they turned to mush...thick mush and they were GREAT! i sort of got the idea from the english "mushy peas".

Hi Shanda,I don't think these hard shells will work being frozen. What you could do is either make the mixture and freeze it, then thaw and use later. OR, make soft flour tacos, like bean & beef burritos, add the meat and cheese in a flour tortilla, wrap them up and freeze off, thaw then bake. :)

I made these tonight for my family and they were amazing! Such an ingenious idea for making tacos! Our 4 year old and 20 month old both loved them, as well did my hubby! Thank you for such a great and easy recipe!

Mmm. I am going to make these tonight. They remind of some tacos we used to get in Berkeley. Delish! I may omit the green chilis due to the little ones, but i'm excited to try it! Follow me on loveofinteriors.blogspot.com

Hi Hannah, I often eat dinner leftovers for my lunch the next day and I have found with these yes they will be soft. You could save some meat mixture aside and make it up as leftovers, baking what you need.

Hi Tamara, I would try the recipe with them, they really combine well with everything so it's not like eating them straight up. I'm not sure how it'd turn out if you left them out, probably be a runny meat sauce and may make them soggy. I wonder if adding an extra 1/4-1/2 pound of meat would work instead of beans?

I made them tonight without the beans and they came out great! They weren't soggy and I didn't add any more meat.Though I will try them next time exactly as written because the reviews say how amazing they are! Thanks for the new recipe!

Love this recipe. I have made them twice. First time I followed exactly, making the seasoning as instructed. Next time I tried it with package taco seasoning. Bad Idea. The whole family turned their noses up, thumbs down. So...follow the recipe and you will love it. Thanks for the recipe.

I haven't tried these yet - but plan on it. It will make it easier for my husbs nd & I to both get hot tacos. I wanted to suggest using jimmy dean sausage instead of hamburger or a mix of both. I started doing this & the tacos are so much more flavorable!!!

Tried this tonite and yum!!! I did use a can of tomatoes and green chili instead of tomato sauce. The little delights came out wonderful! Thanks so much! I now have a new quick recipe to add to my weekly meal plan. And Sargento's Mexican blend added a wonderful gooey yumminess that complimented the slight crisp of the shells. Oh and I put cheese on the bottom before adding taco filling and then more on top.

Thank you so much for your wonderful taco meat recipe and this tip on baking the shells! The meat is so flavorful and the shells are so much more tastier. I did use you in my blog on my pinterest journey. I linked back to you. Thanks again!! JulieSaidWhat.com

I honestly have no idea HOW this is the first time I've seen someone do this. Brilliant! We tried this tonight with vegetable filling and cheese. They came out amazing, I am thinking I can just reheat the leftovers the same way?

So happy you found this and you like them, they've become our fave too. As for reheating, they will be soft the next day not as great. I would just save some to make up the next day, (save filling aside) so the shells remain crispy. :)

I used the stand and stuff hard shell tacos so that they would not fall over in the oven. Have to say that the whole family loved these tacos! I will never go back to using a packet again. Thanks for the great recipe:0)

Made these for dinner tonight. They were so good, even my 7 year old picky son gobbled them up. The taco seasoning was incredible, I'll never buy store bought again! I did make them without the beans though. They weren't soggy at all, but I did line the casserole dish with foil, so don't know if that helped or not. Will definitely be making these again!

Made these tonight for my family, I had no problems with them getting soggy. Well, the bottom did get a little soft by the time I had my 3rd taco, but the rest of the shell was so crispy that it made up for it. My husband loved them, I think he at 4 and my girls (4 and 2) liked them a lot too! Will definitely be making these again!

These are AMAZING!!!! My fam has requested them several times over the last few weeks. Super easy, super fantastic! Made several dishes when had 18 family members over. So great to be able to eat all together & 'dress' em up like we wanted. Thank you!

Made this last night and loved them. My husband doesn't like beans but even he liked them. :) And honestly, I don't know why I never thought to bake them in the oven before. Keeps everything inside making it easy for my 2 and 4 year old to eat. Thank you!

Yup. These were SO delish. And I 'mocked' the recipe because I didn't have everything. no green chiles, just threw in frozen onion and green pepper, no tomato sauce, just sprinkled a little salsa, threw in some leftover pintos from the fridge. SUPER DUPER YUM!! I did have all the seasonings though. I can't wait to make these again and actually follow the recipe and a have more toppings !! Thanks.

OMG, I just made these yesterday.They are terrific. The only thing I did is I added chorizo. I cooked it separately so not to add extra oil to meat mixture. After I cook the chorizo I added it to the beef mixture. To die for.I will never buy taco mix in a pkg. again. Your homemade taco mix is fantastic.Thanks again for the recipe.Judith

I tried your recipe for Oven Tacos tonight, and YUM! Mine didn't turn out soggy at all. I didn't have an tomato sauce, so I used tomato paste with a little bit of water. I also made sure to drain the ground beef of all fat, as well as drain the juices from the canned green chili's. Turned out perfect! Sure made a lot of filling, I'll be eating this for lunch tomorrow. Thanks for sharing your recipe!

I've been making these for months and we LOVE this recipe. I'm going to make them for a friend tomorrow and drop off in the morning. How long (and at what temp) should she put them in the oven after sitting in the fridge all day? (She will assemble them right before baking, and the meat will already be cooked.)

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